Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is well recognized as a gasoline blending component. MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether) is a chemical compound that is typically manufactured by the chemical reaction of methanol and isobutylene. MTBE is produced in very large quantities (over 200,000 barrels per day in the U.S. in 1999) and is almost exclusively used as a fuel additive in motor gasoline. It is one of a group of chemicals commonly known as “oxygenates” because they raise the oxygen content of gasoline. At room temperature, MTBE is a volatile, flammable, and colorless liquid that dissolves rather easily in water. The use of MTBE in the production of gasoline for the protection of the environment and octane improvement has made it the fastest growing large volume chemical in the world.
Syngas (mixtures of H2 and CO) can be readily produced from either coal or methane (natural gas) by methods well known in the art and widely commercially practiced around the world. A number of well-known industrial processes use syngas for producing various oxygenated organic chemicals. The Fischer-Tropsch catalytic process for catalytically producing hydrocarbons from syngas was initially discovered and developed in the 1920's, and was used in South Africa for many years to produce gasoline range hydrocarbons as automotive fuels. The catalysts typically comprises iron or cobalt supported on alumina or titania. Promoters, such as, rhenium, zirconium, manganese, and the like, can sometimes be used with cobalt catalysts, to improve various aspects of catalytic performance. The products were typically gasoline-range hydrocarbon liquids having six or more carbon atoms, along with heavier hydrocarbon products.
Today lower molecular weight C1-05 hydrocarbons (paraffins and/or olefins) are desired and can be obtained from syngas gas via Fischer-Tropsch catalytic process. There is a need to convert the paraffins and/or olefins obtained into other useful compound(s).
Accordingly, there remains a long-term market need for new and improved methods for producing useful compound(s) from low molecular weight C1-C5 hydrocarbons, such as from C4 hydrocarbons, from non-petroleum feedstocks.
Accordingly, a system and a method useful for the production of MTBE are described herein.